Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Release Day Launch and Review: Her Dark Places

Jasmine “Jazz” Holloway gets more than she bargained for when she heads to Sutton College for her freshman year. A long-distance relationship with her high-school boyfriend is tough to maintain. Especially when Brennan, the cute boy down the hall, keeps flirting. And after someone starts threatening her roommate, Jazz enlists the help of Sean, a smokin’ hot upperclassman who runs a P.I. agency out of a darkened corner of the library. Jazz has to fight her attraction to both guys as she works to uncover the stalker. But as the stakes rise and tension heightens, the hardest part for Jazz will be keeping her own secret...what she’s really doing at Sutton College. And that’s something no one can know.

***

My Review!

*I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for an honest review.I seriously need to get back to reading more mysteries, because I love them! They are one of my favorite genres, and I like the guessing game. I don't think I've read an NA mystery yet, so I was excited to for this one. And I have to say, I really enjoyed it!

Rating: 4 stars!

I loved Jazz! She was such a spunky main character; she was a good balance of serious and comical, strong and vulnerable. I loved how brutally honest she was and how she protected her roommate. However, she had a tendency to rush headfirst into situations without thinking about the consequences. It's a bad trait, this impulsiveness, because it almost kills her. Literally. She needs to learn to dial down her anger and not rush into things. She'll need a cool head for what she's about to do in the next book, too.Her character was important, but the author didn't forget about the other ones. Her roommate, Audrey, was the perfect balance for Jazz. She was fun, caring, and always wanted to make sure her friend was okay. But Jazz isn't the one receiving threats, and it brings up Audrey's past and makes Jazz feel like she needs to protect her. They had a great, almost sisterly relationship.However, I wasn't a fan of the romance in this book. It overshadowed pretty much everything. And it would have been better if the author had made her main character single in the beginning, because her boyfriend was nothing more than an excuse for Jazz to not date the cute boy down the hall. I liked Brennan; he's cute and charming and protective. But I'm already biased when it comes to Sean, because he's mysterious and is more interesting as a character. So, this "love triangle" bugged the shit out of me, especially when you added in a distant boyfriend and Jazz's constant inner dialogue about how much she wants Brennan but can't have him. It's the only reason this is getting 4 stars. I don't think the subtle (and total setup) of a love triangle was needed, and I really hope it doesn't piss me off in the second by overtaking the story-line like it did in this one.The romance was a more integral part of the story, when I wanted the focus to be on Jazz's past and why she's there. Not to mention, that's not the only mystery in this book. Audrey's getting threats, Sean's uncovering all of her secrets, and all of their suspects don't seem to be the stalker. It was easy to guess Jazz's huge secret, and it was fairly simple to guess who was threatening Audrey. When Jazz finds out, I was like Oh, duh. That makes sense. The mystery stumped me for a good bit, though. But I just wish there'd been more buildup to what Jazz was hiding from everyone.All in all, I thought this was a great book and I can't wait to read the sequel! I loved Jazz's POV and character. I like that this is NA and that it's mystery. I LOVE the idea that there's a private investigator who takes cases out of the library. I think that's why I like Sean more; he's the Sherlock Holmes of Sutton College. And now Jazz is going to be his Watson. :)

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Excerpt!

I swallowed my nerves and approached the table. Some computer hacker who ran a detective agency out of a corner of the college library? That screamed dork. I’d figured I’d be meeting the King of the Nerds. And that was fine. I was a nerd, too. It was just a bit of a jolt to walk over here expecting one thing and find a chiseled six-foot-something gorgeous specimen of man. Or as Audrey would have said, a total panty-dropper.

He had to have heard my footsteps, but he didn’t look up. I cleared my throat. That didn’t help either. Might as well dive right in then.

“Hi, um, I heard that you—”

“No fake IDs,” he said, still not looking up.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I don’t make fake IDs.”

“Good, because I don’t want that,” I said in the best bitch tone I could muster.

He put the book down on his lap and looked up at me. His eyes gave me a quick once-over. Then he slightly raised one eyebrow. “You.”

“Me.”

“What do you want?”

“I heard that you…help people.”

He raised his left shoulder slightly, like he couldn’t be bothered to complete a full shrug. “Sometimes.”

I suppressed a groan. He really wasn’t making this easy, and I didn’t have much patience. I snapped, “So are you in the mood to help people tonight, or are you just going to read?”

A small smirk. “That depends on what you need. I’m not going to help you stalk Renee Willand.”

“Good. Because I’m not interested in stalking anyone. I’m interested in stopping a stalker.”

He pulled his legs down off the table and sat straight up. Apparently that had gotten his attention. He steepled his fingers. “Someone is stalking you?”

2 comments:

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I'm Holly, the blogger behind The Fox's Hideaway. I love to read, write, play video games, and Netflix. I spend way too much time binge-watching TV shows I never finish, procrastinating life, and disappearing into the pages of a book for hours on end. I started this blog as a way to give myself a creative outlet for writing and talk books with people who "get" it. And it's since become one of the biggest passions I have, and it humbles me that you're here and reading this short little paragraph right now. I hope you'll stick around as I rant and rave and stumble through adulthood. :D

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